Bottom line: An Asian American Ramona
Author: Lenore Look
Lexile measure: 640
Language: Mention of "four letter words, bad ones". Also, there are some words (not bad ones) in transliterated Chinese .
Violence: None.
Big Kid Mature Topics: Bullying (verbal name calling making fun of sweaters, not violent or threatening). The bully gets sick with pneumonia and is hospitalized. The seven year old protagonist drives a car. The story talks about immigrant relatives in a negative, stereotypical way--but this is in the context of the protagonist naming the reasons she doesn't want them to come to the US, and it all melts away in the end. There are also a lot of elements of Cantonese American culture that young kids from other cultures might not be familiar with.
Illustrations: Black and white shaded drawings, every few pages.
Plot: moderately complex.
Ruby is one of our favorite protagonists. Maybe its because we get to use our very limited Cantonese and knowledge of Chinese culture, but I suspect its also because Ruby is so real and yet so funny. Even DS (4) thinks so. She reminds me of Ramona and Judy Moody and Clementine all wrapped into one.
A word of caution: Very young readers may not understand the gravity of getting into a real car and driving it for real with a pretend driver's license. DS was very blown away when I told him that he was not allowed under and circumstances to drive our car.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
The Boxcar Children
Bottom line: Easy to read, nonviolent mysteries.
Author: Gertrude Chandler Warner
Lexile measure: 490
Language: None offensive.
Violence: None.
Big Kid Mature Topics: The children are orphans. They have run away before they can be turned over to a guardian. They do not go to school. The cover of the book depicts a thunderstorm.
Illustrations: Black and white shaded drawings, every few pages.
Plot: moderately complex
DS took one look at the cover and was convinced this was a scary book. It really isn't but try telling that to him. This book was a fun read with an interesting plot twist, but the dialogue, vocabulary, and characterizations are all relatively simple. DD thought it was great, even though she often reads far above this Lexile. We are looking forward to the more than 100 sequel books. Of note, GC Warner only wrote 19 of the sequels.
Author: Gertrude Chandler Warner
Lexile measure: 490
Language: None offensive.
Violence: None.
Big Kid Mature Topics: The children are orphans. They have run away before they can be turned over to a guardian. They do not go to school. The cover of the book depicts a thunderstorm.
Illustrations: Black and white shaded drawings, every few pages.
Plot: moderately complex
DS took one look at the cover and was convinced this was a scary book. It really isn't but try telling that to him. This book was a fun read with an interesting plot twist, but the dialogue, vocabulary, and characterizations are all relatively simple. DD thought it was great, even though she often reads far above this Lexile. We are looking forward to the more than 100 sequel books. Of note, GC Warner only wrote 19 of the sequels.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Early Chapter Books--Mommy's Bad List
Early chapter books (usually 3-5 chapters of 3-10 pages each) are easy to review in the library, but what if you want to buy a book or receive one as a gift? I wrote an earlier post on our recommended early chapter books. Now it is time for a post on early chapter books I do NOT recommend. I hate to be negative, but there are so many really good books out there that it seems a shame to waste your time on books that probably aren't worth your time.
Junie B. Jones series--Well known for rude language and poor grammar (not just incomplete sentences, but also non-words and poor structure). DD did not find the story interesting either.
Thomas the Tank Engine early readers--Although the character seems like he's innocent enough, and the merchandise is cute, the books are for older children. The stories often deal with trains in mild peril. Almost every easy reader we have gotten from the library has been scary enough to give DS nightmares at age 2-4. If your child is Thomas crazy and not overly sensitive, they probably will be fine, but sensitive kiddies may have problems. Of note, we do own several Thomas books that are not early readers and they are fine, not scary at all.
Magic Tree House--Some kids really like these but I think there are better ways to get a kid into history than this. The books are not only full of poor and partial sentences, but they often glorify witchcraft and magic. Some parents may also find their evolutionary content offensive. The Magic Schoolbus is much more benign. For history, there are many picture books which are much more interesting.
Junie B. Jones series--Well known for rude language and poor grammar (not just incomplete sentences, but also non-words and poor structure). DD did not find the story interesting either.
Thomas the Tank Engine early readers--Although the character seems like he's innocent enough, and the merchandise is cute, the books are for older children. The stories often deal with trains in mild peril. Almost every easy reader we have gotten from the library has been scary enough to give DS nightmares at age 2-4. If your child is Thomas crazy and not overly sensitive, they probably will be fine, but sensitive kiddies may have problems. Of note, we do own several Thomas books that are not early readers and they are fine, not scary at all.
Magic Tree House--Some kids really like these but I think there are better ways to get a kid into history than this. The books are not only full of poor and partial sentences, but they often glorify witchcraft and magic. Some parents may also find their evolutionary content offensive. The Magic Schoolbus is much more benign. For history, there are many picture books which are much more interesting.
Nate the Great and the Missing Key
Author: Marjorie Sharmat
Lexile measure: 380
Language: Mild name calling, such as "stupid". One page of text in cursive.
Violence: None.
Big Kid Mature Topics: The main character repeatedly mentions his fear of scary dogs.
Illustrations: Black and white shaded drawings, every few pages.
Plot: complex.
DS loves Nate the Great, and I think everyone in the family at least listened to me read this book aloud with DS's help. I remembered this book from my own childhood. It isn't great literature, but this series is a lot of fun because the mystery makes you think about what you've read. I think this is one of the better ones in the series. I posted previously about Nate the Great and the Boring Beach Bag.
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